Pakistani Jet Lag, Midnight Cowboy Coffee

The first hours of Dosti are already amazing...

At 1:00 am, after 32+ hours of traveling, the five Pakistani musicians are still down to head into the kitchen to make cowboy coffee.

I convince Iftikar (Ali) that Coffee Mate already has sugar in it and he makes fun of me for burning the toast. Nutella however opens a whole new world.

Tanzeem is a barber in his home country, but he also plays the flute, the harmonium, the tablas and sings. I ask him to cut my hair before we part ways and he agrees.

They ask me how to turn off the pilot lights on the gas range stove so we don't burn the kitchen down, then they clean every inch of the countertops. I leave my coffee out for a few minutes and Ali washes the cup, then promises to remake me an entire batch when he finds out it was mine. I make fun of them for being afraid of rattlesnakes and tell them that a crocodile is going to come into their room and eat them if they leave the door open.

Zee (aka Slow Spin) is perpetually in orbit between Berlin, New York, Pakistan doing an MFA in performance studies and music. She and I connect about our recent encounters with loved ones passing away and the dire beauty of this residency to call us into our fullest musical manifestation in life.

Mohsin shows us pictures of his four month old baby on his phone. Once everyone has settled in their separate rooms we all congregate, unsure of what to do with our new found privacy. My heart breaks for America when Mohsin confesses that he feels a little uneasy: he has never slept alone before. He sneaks into Tanzeem's room that night.